SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. —Heat was never part of Jeff Francis’ arsenal. The lanky left-hander has always taken a thoughtful, cool approach to his work on the mound.

Pitch location, pitch selection and smarts helped make Francis a 17-game winner in 2007 and earned him two playoff victories in the Rockies’ remarkable run to the World Series.

Now, at age 32, nearly six years after Rocktober and four years removed from shoulder surgery, his fastball appreciably slower, Francis faces one of the biggest challenges of his career: stabilizing the weakest starting rotation in baseball.

The fact that Francis led the Rockies in starts (24) and innings pitched (113) last season, despite not joining the team until June, tells you something about the state of Rockies pitching. As does the fact Francis was just 6-7, with a 5.58 ERA, but is regarded as perhaps the team’s most dependable starter.

Now, more than ever, Francis must rely on his craftsmanship to get him by. He said he’s up to the task.

“There is no doubt,” said Francis, who signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract in December. “If I didn’t believe I could do that, I shouldn’t even be here. That’s what drives me when I’m out practicing and in the winter when I’m out training.”

It would not be accurate to say Francis has reinvented himself as a pitcher. As fellow Rockies left-hander Christian Friedrich put it, “Jeff’s always been a specialist in execution.”

But because Francis can’t throw the ball as hard has he once did — his average fastball has dropped from 88-89 mph six years ago to 84-85 mph — he’s had to make major adjustments.

“Even as a young kid, as a teenager learning to pitch, I never could rely on putting the ball by anybody,” he said. “I always had to know how to make the ball move around. So for me, it’s not an ego thing to say I can’t put it past anybody anymore, or I can’t get a swing and miss. This is the only way I can stick around here now.”

Francis spots his fastball more than ever, rather than relying on it. He has developed a cutter.

“He’s gotten to where he can get his cutter in on right-handers, and that consistently opens the plate,” pitching coach Jim Wright said. “They will have to stay back. It’s a significant weapon.”

Hoping to induce groundballs, Francis also will take something off his fastball, causing the ball to sink.

For Francis to succeed, his off-speed pitches must be thrown with precision. He has always had an excellent changeup and can throw it in any count. With the help of Wright, Francis now throws two versions of his curveball — one arriving at the plate at about 72 mph, the loopier version coming in around 68.

Friedrich, in a learning mode, has studied Francis’ bullpen sessions and has been amazed at the veteran’s command.

“He’s mastered the curve to where he has a slow one, so he can land it on the front of the plate,” Friedrich said. “And he can throw one to the back of the plate. That’s really hard to do.”

Through the first half of spring training, Francis has been Colorado’s most consistent pitcher. On Sunday, he extended his scoreless-inning streak to 13 before the Dodgers tagged him hard in the fifth inning. He was charged with four earned runs on six hits.

“The first four innings, I was really happy,” he said. “In the fifth inning, I started missing quite a bit. As I get used to throwing more innings and going deeper in the games, I’ll be sharper.”

Last season proved that if Francis isn’t sharp, he’ll get lit up in a hurry. For example, in an 8-0 loss to the Dodgers on Sept. 28, he gave up six hits and five runs in four innings, part of a late-season slump in which Francis went 0-3 in six starts.

But when he’s on, he can shut down the best offenses.

“He does what we’re looking for,” first-year Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “He pitches at the bottom of the zone. He’s got a good changeup, which is really important, not only in our place, but in general. A changeup changes an at-bat for a hitter. And he commands it very well. He knows what he’s doing.

“Kind of reminds me of Tommy Glavine. I played behind Tommy for years and years, and there are some similarities in the approach to pitching.”

Their results, of course, have been quite different. Glavine, the former Braves star and likely Hall of Famer, won 305 games and had a career ERA of 3.54. Francis enters this season 67-73 with a 4.86 ERA.

Francis has no illusions that he’ll be the pitcher he was during that magical 2007 World Series run. But he’s convinced he can still be productive.

“You can tell by my career ERA that I don’t have it all figured out, by any means,” he said. “But I do have an idea of what I’m doing and if I execute, I can get anybody out. I know that.”

WASHINGTON — Thirty games into the 82-game NHL season, and nearly six weeks after the Matt Duchene trade, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic discussed the state of his team before Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at the Washington Capitals.